Contents:
- Medical Video: Harmful effects of mobile phones for children
- A myriad of positive gadget influences for children
- Effect of gadgets on children's speaking ability
- The effect of late talk on a child's life
- So can children not hold gadgets at all?
Medical Video: Harmful effects of mobile phones for children
No doubt, gadgets likesmartphone and tablets do have a myriad of benefits for humans, even for young children. Quite a lot of parents give gadgets to their children. The reason is usually like safe entertainment because children will only sit quietly while playing or watching. However, are there gadget influences for children's development?
A myriad of positive gadget influences for children
The effect of gadgets can be very good on children's cognitive abilities. Compared to reading or looking at pictures in a book, children are more interested in moving and sounding images. Children can watch educational videos through various applications. Children can see various videos such as videos about animal and plant life, videos about objects in space, to historical videos in the past. In addition, various applications such as quiz and various applications games educative has been found in many smartphone.
In fact, gadgets with search engines will be great teachers to open their minds. When a child wants to find out about something, he just needs to type in the keyword on the search engine thousands of answers about it ready to open.
Effect of gadgets on children's speaking ability
But on the other hand, giving gadgets to children can turn around to be a negative thing. One of them is a gadget proven to have an effect on children's speech abilities.
A child and adolescent mental specialist, Dr. Gitayanti Hadisukanto, Sp.KJ (K) in a media discussion at Pondok Indah Hospital in March 2017 revealed that the provision of gadgets under the age of five will reduce stimulation in social interactions. Dr. Gita explained further to Viva, because the gadget does not need a child's response, so it is difficult to interact and this has an impact on the speech process.
Research presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco explained this. Catherine Birken, a pediatrician at Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto Canada found a connection between the use of gadgets and the ability to speak to children.
From 2011 to 2015, Birken asked parents who had children aged 6 to 24 weeks, how long they were usually given time to watch through the gadget screen. Well, 20 percent of the children involved in this study use gadgets for at least 28 minutes every day.
As a result, they found that every additional 30 minutes the time spent playing gadgets could increase the risk of late talking or speech delay up to 49 percent. While other forms of communication such as body language, emotions, to the eyes are not affected.
However, Barken notes that further research is still needed, for example experimental research to prove its influence clinically. However, this pre-research can be a future reference for parents and child health workers.
Another study conducted by University College London England found that the time used in front of the screen also affects brain development. The study found that every hour spent watching gadgets could reduce sleep time by up to 16 minutes. In fact, sleep is very beneficial for the child's brain, especially in times of brain development when nerve development is good.
The effect of late talk on a child's life
The delay in starting to talk can have other effects. Jenny Radesky, an expert from the University of Michigan, United States, argues that when children are unable to express their frustration through words, they will tend to use body movements or loud voices to attract attention. In other words, children will look unable to control emotions.
In addition, the delay in speaking can affect children's academic abilities at school later. The ability to understand text and string words is not only important in language lessons, but can be used in other subjects such as science, mathematics, art, and social sciences.
So can children not hold gadgets at all?
Even though there are gadget influences to watch out for, you can use gadgets as learning media.
For children aged 18 months and under, the gadget should only be used for video-chat. If you want to introduce digital media, you can do this for children aged 18-24 months by watching educational shows. Make sure you watch with the child and explain what is being watched so that the child understands very well what he is watching.
In children aged 2-5 years, you can allow children to use gadgets up to one hour per day. Parents must use the gadget with their children and explain what is displayed and apply what they get from the show to the world around.
So, at the age of 5 years and under, do not let the kids get fun with the gadget.Use a gadget like a book. Hold the gadget and sit next to your child while telling stories or explaining the image on the screen. Interact with children while doing this.
For children aged 6 years and over, you do not need to be on the side of the child when using a gadget. However, You must be aware that there are many other learning media out there. For example, going to a zoo or other recreation area that can make children more active in moving and interacting than using gadgets.
In addition, to prevent negative gadget influences, determine the duration of consistent use of gadgets and ensure that gadget use does not interfere with sleep, playing time or physical activity, and other activities that are important for health.
